I've never seen the point of weddings, especially the big fancy ones costing tens of thousands. All the traditions around them like black cats, something old, something new something borrowed and something blue, the ride and groom not seeing them until the ceremoney and the groom not being allowed to see the wedding dress, all that stuff. Let alone the embarassment of having to do it all IN PUBLIC!
Something old/new/borrowed/blue - a tradition based on an Old English rhyme that dates back to 19th-century Lancashire: "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, a sixpence in your shoe." The belief was that if the bride carries each of these items as she walks down the aisle, she will enjoy a successful and happy marriage.
Brides wearing white dates back thousands of years and this verse explains why: “Married in white, you will have chosen all right. Married in grey, you will go far away. Married in black, you will wish yourself back. Married in red, you’ll wish yourself dead. Married in blue, you will always be true. Married in pearl, you’ll live in a whirl. Married in green, ashamed to be seen. Married in yellow, ashamed of the fellow. Married in brown, you’ll live out of town. Married in pink, your spirits will sink.”
Veils: The ancient Greeks and Romans believed that a bride needed to wear a veil to make her less susceptible to the curses and hexes of jealous witches and evil spirits who wanted to steal her happiness. Once her face was obscured, so too were their vexes.
Something old/new/borrowed/blue - a tradition based on an Old English rhyme that dates back to 19th-century Lancashire: "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, a sixpence in your shoe." The belief was that if the bride carries each of these items as she walks down the aisle, she will enjoy a successful and happy marriage.
Brides wearing white dates back thousands of years and this verse explains why: “Married in white, you will have chosen all right. Married in grey, you will go far away. Married in black, you will wish yourself back. Married in red, you’ll wish yourself dead. Married in blue, you will always be true. Married in pearl, you’ll live in a whirl. Married in green, ashamed to be seen. Married in yellow, ashamed of the fellow. Married in brown, you’ll live out of town. Married in pink, your spirits will sink.”
Veils: The ancient Greeks and Romans believed that a bride needed to wear a veil to make her less susceptible to the curses and hexes of jealous witches and evil spirits who wanted to steal her happiness. Once her face was obscured, so too were their vexes.
I thought it was Queen Victoria who started the tradition for brides wearing white, before that many people married in other colours.
Not all marriages were arranged ones, only those for people of a higher social status, us peasants married where we pleased, sometimes for love and sometimes because interests coincided, sometimes for companionship.
The church didn't have weddings as we think of them for quite some centuries, people were married at the church door or porch not inside and the words of the "traditional" marriage vows were written by a monk.
I didn't have any of that stuff when I got married and even by the time of the ceremony I was fed up with managing the expectations of others.
I'm phobic of weddings I'd never marry again and I won't go to anybody elses wedding either.
